Chapter 15

Sarah took a few deep breaths while she let the realization of it all sink in, and she saw the truth of it in both Gibbs' and Tony's eyes. They weren't lying to her. She allowed herself to believe that now.

She was going to have a family.

"You think we should go talk to Hansen now?" Tony asked Gibbs. "I'd like to know what will happen next."

"Aren't you going to take me home?" Sarah said and looked at Tony with a worried wrinkle on her brow.

"We will, Sarah, but I don't know if we can do it today", he replied. "We'll have to talk to Mr. Hansen first."

"I'll go and see if I can find out if Hansen is available or not", Gibbs told Tony. "You two stay here."

Tony nodded and watched Gibbs walk off before he went over to the bench with Sarah. He sat down with Sarah in his lap, but after a moment she slid off to sit beside him, her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs. Tony watched Sarah in silence as she looked down at her shoes and started to play with her laces. She seemed a little nervous, but Tony couldn't blame her for it. He figured that if he had been in her situation when he was a kid, he'd be nervous too. This was a new situation for her. Her entire life was about to change again, and he just hoped that he and Gibbs had made the right decision of telling her about the adoption before they had consulted Hansen on the matter. But it was too late to worry about that now.

"Why did you choose me?"

Sarah's sudden question threw Tony off balance for a moment. He blinked, at first not sure what to say, but when she looked up at him to get her answer he just smiled at her and said the only thing he could think of. The truth.

"We chose you because I could feel the moment I met you that you belong with us", he said. "So did Jet. Even though it's not official yet, you are our daughter. We love you, Sarah, and we want to give you the family you deserve. I hope you believe that."

Sarah nodded her head yes, but Tony could still see the small glint of doubt in her eyes. He frowned and wondered what the next steps in this process would be. Hansen had said that it could take months before they could take Sarah home, but Tony didn't think that either of them could wait that long, and he promised both himself and Sarah that he and Jet would do everything they could to speed things up if it came to that. He would be damned if he'd let Sarah stay at the orphanage longer that necessary.

"Hey", he said then and gently touched Sarah's shoulder to get her attention. "Would you like me to tell you about your knew home?"

Sarah gave him an affirmative nod and Tony started to describe the house for her, putting in as much details as he could, especially about Sarah's room. It was almost finished now. It was just the furniture that had to be put in, and Tony was positive that they'd get it finished within the next couple of days. They simply had to.

Gibbs returned a short while later and told Tony that Mark Hansen could see them now, and that he wanted them to leave Sarah with one of the care takers for the time being, or Archie if he was around. Sarah insisted on Archie and the next moment the old gardener came walking towards them. Both Gibbs and Tony promised that they'd try not to take too long before Sarah scooted off the bench and ran over to the old man. Tony looked after her for a while before following Gibbs up to the main building, hoping that whatever Mark was going to tell them meant that they could take Sarah home ASAP.

TBC